It has been appreciated that cutters and machine tool cutting inserts having cutting surfaces with shaped topologies may be advantageous in various applications as the surface features may be beneficial in use to divert, for example, chips from the working surface being worked on by the cutter or machine tool, and/or in some instances to act as a chip breaker. Also, such surface topologies may produce demonstrably better surface finish qualities compared to flat surface cutting tool geometries. However, the extreme hardness and abrasion resistance of materials such as PCD or PCBN which are typically used as the cutting element or insert in such applications makes it very difficult and expensive to machine these materials with desired surface topology features that may be used, for example, as chip breakers or to divert the debris generated in use.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,585 discloses a method for making a cutting element, including forming a composite mass by placing a mass of abrasive crystals, either diamond or CBN, and a mass of catalyst metal in contact with the abrasive crystals into a cell or can which is a protective shield metal enclosure, in which the top surface of the inside of the can is pre-formed with dimples. This dimpled surface provides a pattern for forming features on the top surface of the layer, which function as chip breaker features.
There is a need to provide super-hard bodies of polycrystalline material such as inserts for cutting or machine tools having effective performance and to provide a more efficient method for making bodies of polycrystalline materials for use as such cutters or inserts.